In 1900, The Wild Knight & Other Poems, an early collection of poetry by English philosopher and essayist GK Chesterton, was published. One of the poems found within its pages is a simple four verse rumination on getting older called Gold Leaves, which details the shifting nature of the protagonist’s idea of what God is, as well as how his search for Him has changed over the years. It’s a poem that, more than a century later, Andy Hull accidentally stumbled across in a journal of old prayers and poems. The Manchester Orchestra frontman – who founded the Atlanta-based band in 2004 when he was 17 – was struck by the entire poem, but especially the last line of the third stanza, which talks about “The million masks of God”. It’s after that phrase the band’s ...
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